Surrey County Conservatives

Lib Dems oppose Tory fight for fairer funding 30th November 2005

The Liberal Democrats have sensationally refused to support a Tory motion at yesterday’s full Council meeting which highlighted Surrey’s funding plight next year and the Labour government’s fiddled funding for local authorities in the South East. The motion, tabled by Conservative Member Tony Rooth, also congratulated the Leader, Nick Skellett, on his ‘Get Real on Council Tax’ campaign.

The motion, which was overwhelmingly endorsed by Members, sought to highlight the expected £50m black hole in SCC’s finances next year due to the government’s policy of diverting grant away from the South East towards Labour heartlands in the midlands and the north, and also called on the government to base its funding less on past spending levels, and more on predicted future needs to take into account all the extra duties councils were expected to perform.

Cllr Rooth also drew Council’s attention to fact that although government was diverting grant away from the South East it still expected the region to provide for an ever-increasing level of development.

Commenting on the motion Cllr Tony Rooth said:

It was amazing that the Lib Dems only response was to criticise Nick Skellett for fighting Surrey’s battle to obtain fairer funding from the government. They did not answer any of my questions and though opposing the motion, once again failed to offer any alternative to either solve the council’s funding crisis, or effectively lobby government to ensure that Surrey gets a fair deal on funding.

Commenting Council Leader Nick Skellett said:

“I find it rather disappointing, given the situation we are faced with, that once again we have seen political point scoring from a Lib Dem Group who haven’t even managed to produce an alternative budget for the last three years, let alone devised a way to tackle this current funding crisis. All they have offered is personal criticism without a credible alternative.”

I thank my Conservative colleague for raising this important issue with Council; it is one which is of deep concern to the County Council and Surrey’s residents.

In many areas in the north council tax payers only have to pay £1 in council tax for every £4 spent by their council, the Government pays the other £3. However, in Surrey, taxpayers pay every £1 for every £2 spent by their council. If the Council were to do everything the Labour Government said we should, we would have to raise council tax next year by 12 per cent or more, despite the Government saying that council tax should rise by no more than 5 per cent. Clearly this is unacceptable to our residents and it’s high time the Government got real about the true cost of its grant distribution for Surrey council tax payers.”

He added:

Of course, we have no intention of raising council tax by anything other than a low single figure; this is why we have already taken steps to address the funding shortfall by instigating a Business Delivery Review to help us find £50m in savings from next year’s budget without damaging front line operations.

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